Good Frizz / Bad Frizz

The difference is all in the styling.

Frizz is already a big staple in current hair fashion. You know the messy French twist, braid, chignon or loose pony? Yep, the unfinished part — the coolest part — is frizz. But it’s good frizz.

“Good frizz is something we stylists call ‘flyaway hair,’” says Matrix Artistic Director Daniel Roldan, a hair stylist at NYC’s Cutler Salon and a finalist in the NAHA 2011 texture category. “When you have good frizz, the hair is light and airy. Bad frizz, on the other hand, is overworked and over-dry hair with no control.”

To create good frizz, first dry the hair thoroughly and apply product throughout the hair, Roldan advises.

“You can use a variety of tools,” he continues, naming a teasing comb, cushion brush and wig brush. “Once you have control of the hair’s direction, you can go against the grain to create the frizz.”

Leiva uses the air from the blow dryer to do the backcombing for him.

“Hold the hair with the brush and apply some tension,” he directs. “Then to rough-up the hair, blow-dry toward the scalp — against the natural pattern.”

While color services have a purpose beyond that of frizzmaker, they can be worked to that added advantage. Leiva employs blonding baliage techniques to tease out the frizz, so ask your stylist to do the same.

“We place lighter color on the ends, and then we don’t style them,” he explains. “Very blonde color helps the hair on the ends become frizzy. These unfinished looks are very in style.”

The professionals at Global Keratin Hair offer this recipe for healthy, haute frizz: